This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Golf cars or small utility vehicles have progressively filled a larger niche in meeting various customer demands. Golf car or small utility vehicle customers include both golf courses and individuals. Golf courses typically prefer a configuration for a golf car which may include limiting the forward/reverse speeds, acceleration, deceleration, and braking profiles of the golf car or small utility vehicle in order to make the golf car or small utility vehicle to be suitable for operation on all areas of the golf course. Some individual owners may have similar needs and desire similar forward/reverse speeds, acceleration, deceleration, and braking profiles. Other individual owners, however, may envision a different use for a golf car or small utility vehicle. These uses may favor different operating profiles. For example, airports comprise yet another possible user of golf cars or small utility vehicles and may have yet other, different preferred operating profiles.
A typical airport configuration may desire slower top speeds in both the forward and reverse directions, less steep acceleration profiles, and more steep deceleration profiles. Even within the golf course community, different courses may well require different configurations. For example, a coastal golf course, quite often less hilly, may allow higher top vehicle speeds, steeper acceleration profiles, and less steep deceleration profiles. Golf courses considered mildly hilly, on the other hand, may prefer lower top speeds, less steep acceleration profiles, and more steep deceleration profiles. Further yet, golf courses with taller or steeper hills may prefer yet slower top speeds, approximately the same acceleration profile as mildly hilly golf courses, and steeper deceleration profiles. Individual customers, on the other hand, may desire higher top speeds, steeper acceleration profiles, and less steep deceleration profiles than either an airport or golf course.
The various forward speed, reverse speed, acceleration, deceleration, and braking profiles or parameters can be grouped to define various modes of operation. Various parameters or modes can be made available to the end user for selective use, whether airport, golf course, or individual. In some applications, however, the golf car or small utility vehicle manufacturer may desire to restrict access to various parameters or modes of operation. Such restrictions are typically implemented through software which limits access and modification to various parameters or mode selection.
Golf car and light utility vehicle applications often provide a mix of access to the available parameters or modes. In a typical light utility vehicle application, restricted modes cannot be accessed by end users. Access can be limited to dealers and, in some circumstances, golf course operators. A typical approach to enabling access to restricted parameters involves utilizing a handheld device which is connected to a diagnostic or other electronic access port on the golf car or light utility vehicle. The technician typically enters an access code to allow modifying various portions of the software stored in memory. Once the access code is entered, the technician can then use the handheld device in order to grant access to the various parameters or modes.
While this approach may be suitable in some applications, there are instances when it is desirable to simply enable the end user, such as an individual, to make limited changes to the software or vehicle operating profile without the need for a hand held programming device typically used by golf car dealers or golf course operators. For example, a user that acquires a golf car from a golf course or airport may desire to change the mode to a setting more appropriate for individual owners. A desired profile might include higher forward speeds, steeper acceleration profiles, and shallower deceleration profiles. In such instances, requiring the end user of a newly acquired golf car to take the golf car to a dealer for changes may be avoidable if the change could be enabled in a controlled manner. Similarly, golf car and light utility vehicle dealers may prefer to enable less skilled individuals to effect changes to the software while limiting the kinds of changes.